I am a firm believer in exposed hooks for plastics. Especially if I am fishing light line........for example one of my go-to presentations is a Charlie Brewer 1/16 oz slider head with a 4" straight tail worm (like a robo worm).

Texas rigs and buried hooks are fine for fishing in thicker cover and weeds but generally require a bit beefier hook set to get home. Beefier hook set also means a bit heavier line as well.

What makes the little slider hook so deadly is the light line I fish it on.......that being 4lb test (yes you can beat big fish in open water with very light line provided you have the right equipment.......admittedly the margin for error is rather slim).

Along the same line of thinking is a top tournament bass fishermen in Florida who fishes 8" purple plastic worms with white polka dots almost exclusively. But here's the rub.....he uses a smallish Kahale style hook and hooks the worm through the top 1/4 inch of the worms head. (He first soaks the very end of the worm in vegetable oil to toughen it up). He fishes this set up on 6lb line. His results have earned him considerable income.

So with all this in mind I am strongly inclined to use these Hogy screw locks for plastics. I used them recently offshore by threading a squid onto the x-tra long and beefy screw lock and securing with a couple of tiny cable ties.....very slick set up but I digress.

The idea with these are to clamp them onto the back shank of a hook and then screw the plastic onto the keeper. You could use smaller hooks and therefore lighter line. I also believe you would get a very different action as well. (Guys here on the florida flats scene are hooking swim baits through the tip of the head and using an exposed hook as well.......they are claiming a bit more "roll" with the bait).

These are not the typical weak and cheesy screw locks you are accustomed to. I like the idea of a Kahale style hook which rides upright and give the screw lock a good seating position in the 90 degree bend. You could even use a weighted hook (owner makes a nifty set up which incorporates a tiny blade on a weighted hook). Think light line like 6 lb test and this just might be the cats meow.

Screw lock

The Hogy site claims that these are for use with large plastics but they can certainly be used with 4 and 6 inch swim baits or grubs.

Owner K hook

MT: I enjoy your posts...maybe a little long, but you are trying to convey knowledge, and covering all aspects is sometimes needed. The hardware you are talking about seems like a good technique. Tackling large fish with ultra light terminal tackle is an excercise in being picky. Rod "just the right power", rod length, quality line, excellent drag on the reel, hooks so sharp they split atoms, boat control.

I do have a problem with this entire notion of going very ultra light. I have done this, with the 4lb. test, 7ft. light rod, excellent reel with large capacity....and in the end, I killed some fish. They fought their hearts out for LONGER than is reasonable, and they died. You can't horse them in, letting the fish fight the rod and the drag, placing the rod angle so that pressure is applied to tire the fish, and sometimes I took too long to get them in, and they slipped past aerobic respiration and into a build-up of lactic acid in their muscles....and I killed them. Fish that, by all rights, should have been released.

I ask you to be careful with this "ultra light" idea. Very few fishing conditions require 4lb. test...and it can be "just for experts" or "on a lark" for the novice, but catching outsized fish with this type of set-up CAN result in undo strain, even death, to fish that would otherwise be released.

I hear Ya bassinet.......I use 4lb trilene XT which probably has a breaking strength closer to 6 lb test. I have never had a fish die as a result of a prolonged fight ......most fish caught with the little worm tecqnique were largemouths, smallies, and pike. I have put many numerous largemouths over 4lbs in the boat with the 4 lb XT and two pike over 40" (they took the longest) one 7lb walleye (perch colored original rapala) and the big smallie in the BWCA which I had at the side of my canoe which I would put between 6 and 6.5 lbs before it flipped off was taken on 4 lb green XT using a Gryp knot. It would be unwise to take lakers with ultra light iMO as it would certainly be a death sentence.

FWIW.......I wouldn't use 4lb line, even XT, with anything less than an 8' Rod. I have two steelhead rods which cast the light line a 1/2 mile and then have the length to apply pressure to a fish upwards instead of trying to pull them towards you as with shorter rods. This upward leverage is key to getting a fish off the bottom and out of trouble.

But we digress........I am not advocating using 4 lb test with the Hogy screwlocks but merely stating the fish catching advantages of lighter line. I can picture using 6lb test, the owner K hook, a Gryp knot (tie fast tool) and a 6" swim bait for the ultimate finesse presentation while still offering a larger type lure which traditionally would require heavier line and larger hooks.

I understand. I have killed a few, thru my fault, and the ultra light technique. Having the fish become anaerobic and not being able to revive it is regrettable, from several standpoints...the first of which I did it under the auspices of "sport". We all want a good experience, but removing quality, adult fish, is not a desireable outcome for me. Thanks for allowing me this diatribe, and if the end result is fewer "trophies" killed, well then maybe my comments are not for "nuthin"!

Well I suppose I will keep this afloat for a little while longer. The concept is well thougt out ( if I do say so myself ;-) and worthy of some consideration. I feel a slight kinship to my heros of Spence Petros and company who are "outside the box" thinkers. I would like to think they would approve.